Android News

In an attempt to make you aware of some stories you may have missed during the week, Androinica.com will post a weekly wrap-up of interesting Android news and items that didn’t make it onto our site as full posts. Here’s the first edition of what’s going on in the Android World. Click on the source link to gain more information about each story.

T-Mobile USA training employees on HTC Desire?

The biggest story we broke this week centered on a rumor that the HTC Desire may be coming to T-Mobile USA. There’s no official word yet, but we heard similar stories from three independent sources that raised our eyebrows. – Androinica.com

Researchers “expose” potential security threat on Android

Two researchers released an app in Android alternative markets that told users the weather. It also was a test app to expose the potential for mobile phone botnets. Users didn’t realize that the app sent their contacts and GPS location before showing the temperature. I would hope any Android user would be smart enough to actually READ the permissions request and question why a weather app would need to access your contacts, but 8,000 people weren’t as smart. The cynic in me wants to say you deserve what you get, but the compassionate soul my parents raised will just remind you to be careful. – Sync-Blog

Android growth puts a dent in Windows Mobile market share

Remember when Steve Ballmer of Microsoft laughingly dismissed Android in ’08? Well, Android’s market share went up 4.3 points since October 2009 while WinMo’s went down 4.0 points. My critical thinking professor in college said it was logically fallible to draw a cause and effect relationship just because B happened after A, but I never liked that guy. Screw him! – PC World

T-Mobile USA starts Voice Plus Beta & Perks program

Voice Plus is an update to the dialer app that adds the ability to divert certain numbers straight to voicemail, let callers know you’re busy, see the city callers are from, and use visual voicemail. This is only in beta for G1 owners who previously signed up. – AndroidGuys

T-Mo also has a “My Perks” program that provides free stuff to loyal customers. That includes free gifts on your birthday, free shipping, 15% off accessories, early upgrades, and other perks. It’s only for select customers – Android&Me

Apple patent suit against HTC was a warning shot to competitors

I’m sure we’re all patented-out, but I figured the litigious among us would get a kick out of this. Apple’s lawsuit against HTC was a warning shot to competitors. Apple warned several companies last year that they wouldn’t let people “steal” their IP, and this suit was a way to do it. Why? Patent lawsuits are as much about defense as they are offense. AT&T could sue Motorola, but Motorola could then counter with its own lawsuit alleging that Apple stole one of its patents. That would lead to headaches, so HTC is the easy target – they have less than 60 patents to the thousands claimed by Apple. – CNET

Sprint brings ESPN live content to Sprint TV

We already mentioned that Sprint NFL Live would be worthless at the end of the month since Verizon snatched the NFL contract out of its hands. Sprint responded by announcing that it will bring ESPN Mobile TV to Sprint TV. You won’t get any live events from the NFL, but you will get a number of live video content from NCAA basetkball and football, NBA regular season and play off games, NBA Fastbreak news shows, boxing, NCAA hockey, MLS soccer, and Baseball Tonight Studio shows. Fair trade-off, no? – BusinessWire

HootSuite debuts Android app, acquires Swift App

Confirming what we already knew, HootSuite officially announced that it has acquired Swift App today. HootSuite used Swift as its foundation, as you can tell from our video review of the app, but Swift developer Sebastian Delmont is now officially part of HootSuite. Don’t expect any more updates to Swift other than bug fixes. – Swift App Twitter

Verizon Nexus One will have Sense? Probably not

One rumor we’re not so confident about is the suggestion that the Verizon version of the Nexus One would with Sense UI. It was listed as a feature on an Equipment Guide page, but the phone seemed to copy and paste the T-Mobile Nexus One specs and had a couple of typos to cast doubt on its likelihood. – Androinica